They leveled Efes and Zalgiris is waiting fiercely for Panathinaikos

Ultrasonic n Zalgiris crushed Efes 96-70 in Kaunas for the 24th matchday of the Euroleague and caught it at 9-14 keeping some hopes for the play ins. Andrea Trinchieri’s team completely dominated, reaching +20 in the first and +30 in the second period, with the visitors unable to react except at intervals.

THE Laurinas Biroutis with 18 points and 8 rebounds he stood out from the winners, who had four other double-digit scorers and on Friday they welcome Panathinaikos. Will Clyburn with 19 and Darius Thompson with 17 points were the only survivors for Efes, who sees the qualification now with… binoculars.

The match

The “storm” of Zalgiris started from the jambol, with the home team leading 8-0 in two minutes. The visitors looked like they were in… another field and Trinchieri’s team, having a plurality in the attack and 5/5 three-pointers, closed the quarter with an incredible 34-14! The worst was yet to come for Efes, as the Lithuanians, with a tremendous pace on their feet, once again filled the “Zalgirio Arena” and escaped with 46-16 (!) before the first 14 minutes of the match were completed. The reaction of the Turkish team led by Clyburn dropped the difference to 18 (46-28), but it proved to be temporary, since Zalgiris stepped on the gas again and closed the half at +21 (58-37).

Biroutis continued his excellent performances and with him and Dimsa as a benchmark, Zalgiris had control and a safety margin reaching 69-41 midway through the third period. Efes made a desperate attempt to get back into the match, cutting the gap to 17 (76-59) at the end of the quarter, but Clyburn and Thompson had no supporters. The hosts with a good defense and much more offensive solutions comfortably reached the victory and now await Panathinaikos AKTOR on Friday at the same stadium.

The quarters: 34-14, 58-37, 76-59, 96-70

See here the statistics of the match